When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes and creeds, and by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the Warriors of the Rainbow and will put their faith in actions not words -- Old Native American Prophecy

Rainbow Warriors are people from all walks of life who care about the future of all living things and have an interest in developing a deeper connection to the web of life itself.

Great leaders, Warriors and Shamans of many nations will be born and they will cleanse the earth for rebirth. Next will come the Planters sowing seeds of truth, justice and freedom. The Storytellers, Warriors and Planters will live in the way of the Great Spirit and teach ways to keep Mother of the Ground sacred forevermore. They will be called Rainbow Warriors for they will gather the four sacred directions, all distinctly separate but forever connected in the Circle of Life. ~ Lee Standing Bear Moore, Manataka American Indian Council ~

A photographer has taken a picture of a beautiful white rainbow in the Scottish mountains. Melvin Nicholson captured a stunning photo of the rare phenomenon - technically a fog bow - on Rannoch Moor while out walking yesterday.

A fog bow is a colourless rainbow made up of tiny water droplets that cause fog. Due to the small size of the water droplets it has very weak colours, with a red outer edge and bluish inner edge.

Melvin said: 'I have never seen a fog bow before and understand that it is very rare. It was an amazing thing to witness and can generally only be seen if the sun is behind you when you are looking at it. As soon as I saw this wonderful isolated windswept tree, I knew that it had to be framed by the fog bow. Freshly fallen snow set the scene all around. It was just beyond magical and one of those days that you'll remember for a long time to come.'

There's a full Moon this weekend. That means it's time to be alert for moonbows. Ian Glendinning spotted this one arcing over a lightning bolt in Northumberland UK:

"The moonbow framed the lightning nicely--a rare and beautiful coincidence," says Glendinning.Everyone knows what lightning is. But a moonbow? It's the same as a rainbow with the Moon playing the role of Sun. Raindrops falling in the Northumberland night caught the rays of the waxing full Moon and spread them into a fan of prismatic color.

Glendinning's exposure revealed something even more rare: a secondary moonbow. It's the faint 'bow arciing above the brighter primary. Primary rainbows are caused by single reflections inside raindrops; secondary bows are caused by double reflections. Watch for them both this weekend.www.spaceweather.com

To see a rainbow, all you need are sunlight and falling rain. Correction: that's all you need to see half a rainbow. Typical rainbows are at least 50% hidden below the horizon.To see a complete rainbow, you also need a drone. Witness this picture taken by a drone over the Netherlands on Sept. 16th:

The drone's master is photographer Martijn Harleman. He explains what happened: "Just after a short rain shower, the sun peeked through. With still some drops still falling I quickly launched my drone. As the drone ascended, the full circle showed up. I stitched together 17 pictures to capture (almost) the whole phenomenon." The drone view illustrates another common yet frequently overlooked aspect of rainbows. They are double. The interior or "primary rainbow" is caused by one reflection inside raindrops. The exterior or "secondary rainbow" is caused by two reflections. Turns out, you can learn a lot about rainbows by flying a drone. www.spaceweather.com

Around the northern hemisphere, sky watchers are starting to report a rainbow-colored sun halo that appears almost-exclusively during summer: the circumhorizon arc. "I saw one on June 13th. It was very bright," says Michail Anastasio, who snapped this picture from the cockpit of a plane flying 20,000 feet over Singapore:Nicknamed the "fire rainbow" because of its fiery rainbow colors, this apparition in fact has nothing to do with either fire or rainbows. It is caused by sunlight refracting through plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus clouds. The geometry of the refraction requires that the sun be high in the sky (above 58o), which explains why this is a summertime phenomenon. June and July are the best months to see circumhorizon arcs. Look for them circling the horizon sometimes in patches, sometimes not, always brightly decorated with pure and well separated prismatic colors. You'll know it when you see it. http://spaceweather.com/

To the human eye, a nearby flash of lightning looks blindingly white. But have you ever wondered what colors might emerge if the flash were spread out chromatically, like a rainbow? During a recent thunderstorm in Tarn, France, David Antao decided to find out. "I am an enthusiastic astro-spectroscopist," he says, "so I couldn't resist shooting some spectra." Here is the result:

"I found it really beautiful!" says Antao. All of the colors of a rainbow are present in the lightning strike, but some colors are stronger than others. Red, green and blue emission lines zig-zag across the spectrum tracing the shape of the original bolt. These colors are mainly due to the recombination of electrons with nitrogen molecules broken apart and ionized by the searing heat of the lightning discharge. Lines from oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen oxides are present, too. "By analysing this spectra, it is possible to determine the temprature of the lightning," notes Antao. "I am trying to do this now."www.spaceweather.com

Everyone is familiar with the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow according to Irish folklore. In Norse mythology the Rainbow Bridge connects Earth with Asgard, the home of the gods. The Greek messenger Iris is dressed in rainbow colors with golden wings. As her tale progresses she takes to traveling on a rainbow. In the myths of Australian Aborigines, the Rainbow Serpent is the god and the creator of all. Rainbows also appear in Navajo and Hindu tales of creation.

Even in the Bible Noah saves the animals by taking two of each species on his Ark. After the great flood Noah sees a rainbow symbolizing the rebirth of the land. A rainbow has come to represent God’s promise to never again send a flood to destroy all living things.

The material world is represented by the first, primary, rainbow, while the second rainbow is the spiritual world. Seeing a single rainbow is fairly common, so something we take for granted in the universe, but when we see a double rainbow we stop and take time to admire the wonder of the universe. Double Rainbows are considered symbolic of transformations in your life.

A primary Rainbow can be seen to illustrate a human descending from heaven. The secondary arc in a Double Rainbow has reversed colors so the human figure is ascending from the material earth to the spiritual heaven. Therefore seeing a Double Rainbow is considered a very auspicious occasion and a reason for reflection and meditation.

JUPITER CLOSE TO EARTH:Today, Dec. 3rd, Jupiter makes its closest approach to Earth until 2021. The giant planet rises at sunset--it looks like a very bright star--and soars overhead at midnight. If you have a backyard telescope take a look! [sky map] Everyone knows about Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a giant anti-cyclone twice the size of Earth, but what about the great storm's two companions? On the eve of closest approach, Glenn Jolly of Gilbert, Arizona, looked through his 14-inch telescope and saw three red swirls:

"The Great Red Spot was in full view along with its current associates", says Jolly. To the upper left of the GRS, the medium-sized storm is "Red Spot Jr.," also known as "Oval BA," which appeared in the year 2000 when three smaller storms collided and merged. It is about the size of Earth. Red Jr.'s satellite storm is a more recent addition, coincidentally about the size of the Moon. Together, the trio are easy targets for backyard telescopes.

GHOSTLY WHITE RAINBOW: Dec. 1st was a foggy night in Little Sioux, Iowa. Nevertheless, Evan Ludes decided to go outside to photograph the nearly-full Moon and "to play in the fog," he says. The Moon was high and bright, as expected, and when he finished snapping the lunar disk, he turned around to find this ghostly white rainbow behind his back:

"It was a lunar fogbow," explains Ludes. Fogbows are sometimes called "white rainbows," and that's about right. Both rainbows and fogbows are caused by light reflected from water droplets. When the droplets are large (rain), they act like prisms, spreading the colors wide for easy visibility. When the droplets are small (fog), the prism-action is reduced, and colors are smeared together into a ghostly-white arc. "I also saw a fogbow created by our headlights," he adds. "It was incredibly bright visually, and this was my first time ever seeing one!" www.spaceweather.com

Usually rainbows are seen near storm clouds. A few days ago, Geoff Chester was riding his bike in Arlington, Virginia, when he looked down and found one in the asphalt. "Here's a picture from my cellphone camera," says Chester. "You can see the rainbow arc to the right."

According to atmospheric optics expert, this is not a rainbow, but rather a glass bead bow. He explains: "Crews marking paint lines on roads often scatter small glass beads onto the paint. The glass beads retro-reflect light and this enhances the visibility of the markings at night. The glass beads - if sufficiently spherical - also produce rainbows. The difference is that the refractive index of glass is greater than that of water and the bow is only about 21° in radius compared to the rainbow's 42°. The glow around the shadow of Geoff's head is an antisolar point phenomenon - a heigenschein - produced by refraction through the glass spheres." "Looks like the mystery is solved," adds Chester. "Although technically the trail is closed dusk to dawn, I know of many folks who use it as a bike commuter route after dark, especially this time of year. The beads enhance visibility. I got plenty of strange looks from passersby as I was taking the pictures!" www.spaceweather.com

The apparition might be connected to hurricane Sandy. The core of the storm swept well north of Alabama, but Sandy's outer bands did pass over the area, apparently leaving behind a thin haze of ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Sunlight shining through the crystals produced an unusually rich variety of ice halos. "By my count, there are two sun dogs, a 22o halo, a parahelic circle, an upper tangent arc, and a parry arc," says Chris Brightwell, who also photographed the display. "It was amazing." If the display really was a result of Sandy, sky watchers might not have to wait a decade for the next show. Some researchers believe that superstorms will become more common in the years ahead as a result of climate change, creating new things both terrible and beautiful to see overhead. Sky watchers in the storm zone should remain alert for the unusual.

GROUND-HUGGING RAINBOW: Most rainbows arch up into the sky, but on Oct. 27th, Stefan Elieff of Punta Arenas, Chile, photographed one that seemed to hug the ground:

"Scattered rain clouds were rolling in low over the hills behind the city when this unusually low rainbow appeared," says Elieff. Although low rainbows are seldom seen, they are actually quite common. They appear whenever raindrops are illuminated by a high-hanging sun. "A rainbow's center and the sun are always on opposite sides of the sky," explains atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "So when the sun is high, the rainbow is low. Indeed, as the sun climbs, the rainbow sinks--sometimes right into the sea."www.spaceweather.com